International Journal of Research and Scientific Innovation (IJRSI) |Volume IX, Issue IX, September 2022|ISSN 2321-2705
Kennedy Ochieng Mwai1*, Reginald Nalugala2
1Institute of Social Transformation, Tangaza University College, Kenya
2Lecturer Tangaza University College, Nairobi, Kenya
*Corresponding Author
Abstract: In Majengo-Pumwani slum in Nairobi City County, Kenya, many youths who had joined Al-Shabaab terrorist group in Somalia have quietly sneaked back into the community thus presenting a security risk to the rest of the society. Therefore, this study investigated the factors for disengagement and rehabilitation from violent extremism in Majengo-Pumwani slum.
The study used mixed method research design involving interviews, focus groups and survey. The study used Krejcie-Morgan sample table to calculate the optimum sample size giving a confidence level of 90% with an acceptable margin of 5% error. Quantitative data was coded, entered and analyzed by means of both inferential and descriptive statistics using the Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) version 21. Content analysis was used to analyze qualitative data.
Data collection instruments used in this study are questionnaires from 195 participants, key informant interview guides from 3 participants and focus group discussions with 17 participants. Based on this calculation, a total of 217 respondents participated in this study (n=217).
The main finding showed that the desire by extremist individuals to begin normal lives away from violence would make them shun and disengage from terrorism thus catalyzing their rehabilitation. Thus, a structured framework is necessary for rehabilitating Al-Shabaab extremists in Majengo Pumwani slum.
The study advocates for practical policy interventions for the disengagement and rehabilitation of returnees. These policy interventions should include providing education and skills development to the returnees, community involvement in their rehabilitation as well as having well established legal and institutional measures for conducive disengagement process.
Key Words: Violent extremism, Disengagement, Rehabilitation, Terrorism
I. INTRODUCTION
The scale of terrorist attacks continues to be on the rise globally. Over the last decade alone, 24000 people have died worldwide from terror attacks (Ritchie et al., 2019). During the data collection period of this study, there were 10,900 terrorist attacks around the world, which killed more than 26,400 people, including 8,075 perpetrators and 18,488 victims (START, 2017). During the same period, the number